Krugman: A Can't-Do Government

- rob 6:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Chertoff - those folks should have left when they were told to.

DHS | Department of Homeland Security | Press Conference With Officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department, Defense Department, the National Guard Bureau, U.S. Coast Guard and FEMA
(you know its a government agency by their useful and compact page titles. If your going to have a title that long - maybe the date of the press conference would be useful to know?)

Secretary Chertoff: Okay, sure. I can only be as specific as the data allows me. You asked about money. This is going to be very expensive. I think we have probably obligated or spent over a couple of a billion with a "b" dollars. When I say obligated, that means we've entered into contracts we're going to have to pay for. That is clearly extraordinary, and although I can't predict what future expenditures are going to be, it gives you a measure of the kind of resources that are involved.

In terms of people displaced, they fall into two categories. You have people who heeded the mandatory evacuation order or who voluntarily evacuated who have left and gone to hotels or motels or to relatives. First of all, we will be assisting people. We have rental assistance, they have other forms of aid that will help them go through the next weeks and months. I can't estimate what that is, but I would have to -- with precision, but I would have to say we've got to be talking about hundreds of thousands of people, if you consider all the communities involved.

Then you have those people who are in the process of being evacuated.

Yes those silly folks who pretend they can't afford an SUV to drive out. A lot of these folks had no means to get out, the media clued into that be Wednesday... All the President's men really haven't.

It was haves vs. have-nots in Katrina evacuation

Tim Russert: It’s a question that our country is going to have to look inside its soul and answer. The fact is, those who were well off were able to evacuate the city and those who were poor stayed behind. And those who are suffering and those who are dying are those very same poor people.

It’s just unbelievable.

- rob 5:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Operation "See I care" in effect

President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina

I want to congratulate the governors for being leaders. You didn't ask for this, when you swore in, but you're doing a heck of a job.
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We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)
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But now we're in the darkest days, and so we got a lot of work to do. And I'm down here to thank people. I'm down here to comfort people. I'm down here to let people know that we're going to work with the states and the local folks with a strategy to get this thing solved.
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Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day.

Yeah Brownose Brownie! You're doing a bang up job.

Again, my attitude is, if it's not going exactly right, we're going to make it go exactly right. If there's problems, we're going to address the problems. And that's what I've come down to assure people of. And again, I want to thank everybody.

And I'm not looking forward to this trip. I got a feel for it when I flew over before. It -- for those who have not -- trying to conceive what we're talking about, it's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by a -- the worst kind of weapon you can imagine. And now we're going to go try to comfort people in that part of the world.

Emphais mine. That part of the world? Its part of America. I know it is hard to believe given how inadequate and half hazard the relief mission has been... but that's the America you are helping create Mr. Bush.

And listen to him trying to describe the scene: "for those who have not -- trying to conceive what we're talking about, it's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by a -- the worst kind of weapon you can imagine." Yes, like a weapon of mass destruction George? Something you've been spending our money preparing for right?

Sadly that made me laugh I almost expected him to say... "it's as if the entire Gulf Coast were oblierated by a -- big storm."
<

- rob 5:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

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FEMA oversees looting of $30 million after a hurricane.

(in Miami after Hurrican Frances, despite the hurricane having landed over 100 miles away)

Fire Michael Brown as FEMA head, Rep. Wexler urges President Bush

Wexler cited reports in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that FEMA under Brown's management inappropriately gave away $30 million in disaster relief funds to people in the Miami, Florida, area even though they were not affected by Hurricane Frances, which made landfall more than 100 miles away.

In his letter to Bush, Wexler wrote: "According to several news accounts by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 'FEMA has written checks to cover new wardrobes, cars, lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, furniture and thousands of televisions, microwave ovens, stoves, air conditioners and other appliances.' In addition, the Sun-Sentinel cites that FEMA paid $4,500 for one resident’s funeral, even though the county medical examiner recorded no storm-related deaths. Another Sun-Sentinel article stated that two residents received aid for 'dental treatments due to dental injuries received during the disaster.' In six other cases, FEMA reimbursed residents for damage caused by 'ice/snow.'"

In a Jan. 24 [2005] news release, Wexler added: "On Monday, January 11, FEMA held a news conference acknowledging that they made $12 million in overpayments to 3,500 individuals — blaming these overpayments on a 'computer glitch.' FEMA, however, continues to deny additional systematic problems and cites the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to prove that there were legitimate hurricane conditions in Miami-Dade. Yet, according to the Sun-Sentinel, NOAA has refuted the weather maps FEMA claims to have obtained from them. As the head of FEMA, Under Secretary Brown oversees federal disaster response and recovery operations, and it is negligent of him to refuse to accept responsibility for its agency mistakes."

Bush's willingness to overlook incompetence by his "friends" isn't a sign of loyalty. It is a sign that he considers his friendships more important then the lives of our citizens and their money.

- rob 5:18 PM - [PermaLink] -

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President Asks Bush and Clinton to Assist in Hurricane Relief Efforts

Its all about oil.

Bush made a major speech to assure the nation that help was on its way, and to explain what he meant by help he then proceeded to spend 391 words of his 1,179 word speech discussing gas prices.

33% of his speech.

Amazing.

And isn't it disturbing whenever someone mentions that he's out of touch he brings Clinton out. "See here's Clinton - I do care!"

This December we thought Bush's inaction the first few days after the Tsunami was because he didn't care about the people because they weren't Americans, but now that he's acted in the same slothful manner, only moving because it looked bad that he wasn't, it is pretty obvious that Bush doesn't care about humans.

- rob 9:55 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Do read AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth today.

They've been on a (angry) role all week.

- rob 4:09 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Cause Bush is on top of it, don't ya know

Daily Kos: US won't let Canada help Katrina victims

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Everything is about oil

Bush Says Katrina Recovery to Take Years

"We're dealing with one of the worst national disasters in our nation's history," he said at the news conference hours after an aerial tour of the area.

"This is going to be a difficult road," he added, and made it clear the impact could broaden well past the four states along the battered coast.

"Our citizens must understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and to distribute gasoline," the president said.

Yes New Orleans is under water, people are dead, people are on the verge of starvation, but everyone you "must understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and to distribute gasoline."

His Black Heart Love for The Black Gold makes eveything about oil.

Bush links duty, oil, terrorists

CORONADO, CALIF. -- President Bush on Tuesday answered growing anti-war protests with a fresh reason for U.S. troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields that he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists.

- rob 3:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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As we now know we are woefully underprepared... well Bush was planning on that at least, because it is now: DHS | Department of Homeland Security | Fact Sheet: National Preparedness Month and Public Preparedness

- rob 3:20 PM - [PermaLink] -

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FAILURE

This is a national security issue. A terrorist attack on the United States would lead to evacuation efforts, refugee efforts, population control efforts. And the federal government is failing at these.

And civilisation shows its cracks

Rescuers met by violence

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Boat rescues in some areas of flooded out New Orleans have been curtailed because of violence, officials said Thursday.
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Thousands of people have been sleeping on streets, interstate access ramps, bridges or any dry spot they can find.

Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, a huge crowd waited on the sidewalks for aid that could be a long time coming. The building was used as a secondary shelter when the Louisiana Superdome was overwhelmed.

CNN's Chris Lawrence reported that conditions inside the building were appalling -- a number of bodies were visible, including a baby.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have any help," Rev. Issac Clark told the Associated Press.

As reports indicated a mounting death toll in New Orleans, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu said that "we understand there are thousands of dead people" in Louisiana, according to media reports.
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A police officer working in downtown New Orleans said police were siphoning gas from abandoned vehicles in an effort to keep their squad cars running, CNN's Chris Lawrence reported.

The officer said police are "on their own" for food and water, scrounging up what they can from anybody who is generous enough to give them some -- and that they have no communication whatsoever. Police also told CNN they were removing ammunition from looted gunshops in an effort to get it off the streets.

President Bush, in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," said that their should be "zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this."

He promised a rapid federal response to the disaster.

Unrest Intensifies at Superdome Shelter

Fights and trash fires broke out at the hot and stinking Superdome and anger and unrest mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National Guardsmen in armored vehicles poured in to help restore order across the increasingly lawless and desperate city.
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Outside the Convention Center, the sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement. Thousands of storm refugees had been assembling outside for days, waiting for buses that did not come.

At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry, desperate people who were tired of waiting broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find.

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

This is in the United States.

Damn I am angry. You can't stop a hurricane. You might not have been able to stop the levee break. But incompetence on this scale. No preparation. An Understaffed and underquiped National Guard. Criminal incompetence.

- rob 1:25 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Remember how Bush the elder was hampered by the "vision thing" well it seems to have been past on to his son.

He has an inability to see the present, learn form the past, and envision any future scenario. No contingency plans exist in his mind because that requires... Imagination.

Bush insists help is on the way

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did appreciate a serious storm but these levees got breached and as a result much of New Orleans is flooded and now we're having to deal with it and will," he said.

What?!? Oh please. That's a week excuse. Just like this one:

He said the operation being mounted was one of the biggest in US history, and inevitably took time to get under way.

I used to give Christmas gifts out late and used the excuse "it took long to arrive... umm... because it is such a 'big' gift." (and I'd find the biggest box in the house and fill it up with tissue paper).

Maybe it too so long to get under way because he didn't do a damn thing to start it - busy with the cake and guitar you know.

By the way, people did indeed "anticipate" a levee breach.

"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"

In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.
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A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.

After 9/11 Rice weakly offered the excuse that no one could imagine someone flying a plane into a building.

Really? Well the National Reconnaissance Office (just 4 miles from Dulles Airport) was actually planning a drill that very day (9/11/01) in which they pretended a plane crashed into one of their towers - they cancelled the exercise when reality beat them to the punch. They must have had better imagination then anyone in the administration, eh?

For more imagination at work, the March 2001 episode of the Fox TV series "The Lone Gunmen" (a X-Files spin off) in which a government plot to crash a jetliner into the World Trade Center. (to keep world tensions high and increase arm sales of course).

The White House is full of the dumb (Bush) and the smart (supposedly Dr. Rice) but they all lack the ability to imagine. In truth they cannot think. And people die because of it.

- rob 12:48 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Waiting for a Leader - New York Times Editorial

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

"now watch this drive."

- rob 12:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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MyDD :: The Liberal Blogosphere for Hurricane Relief

Liberal Blogosphere for Hurricane Relief



"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America." - Bill Clinton.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed thousands of lives. Together, we're raising $1 million for the Red Cross and prove that the liberal blogosphere can help our fellow citizens.

Please donate now.

- rob 11:27 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Well check it out - his fists were clinched and his face was grim:


President Bush pauses aftering having a first-hand look from the window of Air Force One of the damage to New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, from Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

From: Hurricanes & Tropical Storms on Yahoo! News Photos

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Got this from a DKos Diary

From The Houston Chronicle - 12/1/01 - KEEPING ITS HEAD ABOVE WATER
New Orleans faces doomsday scenario

New Orleans is sinking.

And its main buffer from a hurricane, the protective Mississippi River delta, is quickly eroding away, leaving the historic city perilously close to disaster.
So vulnerable, in fact, that earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country.

The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City.

The New Orleans hurricane scenario may be the deadliest of all.

In the face of an approaching storm, scientists say, the city's less-than-adequate evacuation routes would strand 250,000 people or more, and probably kill one of 10 left behind as the city drowned under 20 feet of water. Thousands of refugees could land in Houston.
Economically, the toll would be shattering.

Okay if I was in San Francisco right now I'd be really scared.

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He clenched his fists everyody - just give him a break

Bush views hurricane damage from above

As Air Force One carried Bush back from his Texas ranch, it flew over New Orleans at about 2,500 feet, and then descended to about 1,700 feet over Mississippi. Bush peered through a window at the scene below. Both of his fists were clenched, and his face was grim.

A spokesman later quoted him as saying, "It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."

- rob 5:27 PM - [PermaLink] -

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It was hard to choose.

Do I use this photo of Bush from Monday with a headline of:

Let them eat Cake!

Or do I use this photo of Bush yesterday with a headline of:

Nero's fiddle was unavailable

Yes disasters are not the President's fault. However a President has been saying for nearly four years that he will keep America secure. It has been pointed out again and again the first responders are integral to our security, but the President defines security as only something that comes from bombing folks - so we shouldn't be surprised that he's not on top of this one.

Quoting from several articles quoted from this post: Daily Kos: Gambled and lost. Bush is responsible.

It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
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In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.

It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said.

I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. I think part of the problem is it's not so much the reduction, it's the drastic reduction in one fiscal year. It's the immediacy of the reduction that I think is the hardest thing to adapt to.

There is an economic ripple effect, too. The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.*
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"Missing the personnel is the big thing in this particular event. We need our people," said Lt. Andy Thaggard, a spokesman for the Mississippi National Guard, which has a brigade of more than 4,000 troops in central Iraq. Louisiana also has about 3,000 Guard troops in Baghdad.

Mississippi has about 40 percent of its Guard force deployed or preparing to deploy and has called up all remaining Guard units for hurricane relief, Thaggard said. Those include the Army band based in Jackson, Miss. "They are mustering transportation to move them south," he said. Soldiers who have lost their homes are exempt, he said.

Mississippi has requested troops and aircraft from about eight other states -- including military police and engineers from Alabama, helicopters and crews from Arkansas and Georgia, and aircraft-maintenance experts from Connecticut, who are filling in for a Mississippi maintenance unit that is heading to the Middle East.

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

And finally a bit on FEMA: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON?....

- rob 5:11 PM - [PermaLink] -

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New Orleans in Peril - New York Times

But this seems like the wrong moment to dwell on fault-finding, or even to point out that it took what may become the worst natural disaster in American history to pry President Bush out of his vacation. All the focus now must be on rescuing the survivors. Beyond that lies a long and painful recovery, which must begin with a national vow to help all the storm victims and to save and repair New Orleans.
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Those of us in New York watch the dire pictures from Louisiana with keen memories of the time after Sept. 11, when the rest of the nation made it clear that our city was their city, and that everyone was part of the battle to restore it. New Orleans, too, is one of the places that belongs to every American's heart - even for people who have never been there.

Right now it looks as if rescuing New Orleans will be a task much more daunting than any city has faced since the San Francisco fire of 1906. It must be a mission for all of us.

- rob 4:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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WWL-TV in New Orleans has a blog that is probably the best and most timely source of news about Katrina

Here are some excerpts from: Updates as they come in on Katrina

1:28 P.M. - WWL-TV's Mike Hoss said the corner I-10/Causeway interchange has turned into a massive first aid station.

1:20 P.M. - (AP) Mayor Ray Nagin says at least hundreds of people are dead -- maybe thousands -- in New Orleans. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and others dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."

1:12 P.M. - WWL-TV's Josh McElveen describes the stench coming from the bathrooms in the Superdome as horrific.

1:03 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Medical ship on the way to New Orleans.

12:56 P.M. - Governor Blanco - Time is not on our side for stopping the levee break. There were two breaches, when we thought there was only one. Communicatiion, or lack of same caused the problem.

One of the parts of the 9/11 commission was to discuss problems with emergency response on that day.

New Yorkers were incredible, the police, and fire department gave their all - and it was the communication equipment that let them down. The 9/11 commission, which Bush was opposed to setting up, discussed this at length. And now in New Orleans with not having enough helicopters to spare (why are they somewhere else? Like Iraq?) communication errors are still running supreme.

Nothing has been done to keep America safe since 9/11.

2:20 P.M. - From Weezie Porter: WWL-TV Sales account executive. I evacuated with my family to Nashville. The people we are staying with have a relative in the Chateau Living Center in Kenner 716 Village Road. Their phone is working from time to time 504-464=0604. They report that all of the nurses have left, Only a few aides left there that have been working since Friday. They were supposed to be evacuated by bus but they did not show up. No medications have been given since Sunday,. 4 patients have died.
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8:04 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Unhappy that the helicopters slated to drop 3,000-pound bags into the levee never showed up to stop the flow of water. Too many chiefs calling shots he says.

- rob 4:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Iraqi's didn't exactly greet us with flowers as promised, but in Afghanistan things are definitely flowering.



Opium Yield Drops Only Slightly in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 29 -- Opium production in Afghanistan has dropped by just 2 percent this year, despite a major clampdown on poppy farmers that sharply reduced the amount of land used to grow opium poppies, the U.N. anti-drug chief said Monday.
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The United States, Britain and other countries have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into an anti-drug campaign in Afghanistan after opium and heroin production ballooned in recent years.

You remember the war on drugs? We've been fighting that for what 40 years? Wasn't Bush the elder how really took on the War on Drugs mantle? It was Reagan who appointed the first Drug Czar (a drinking, smoking, gambler, who yells at everyone for being immoral).

The War on Drugs alas is too similar with the War on Terror. Civil liberties taken away, billions spent, and all we got to show for it is more people taking drugs and more violence.

The War of Drugs however is a money train for those involved. It was a defense contractors dream during peace time, and is still a nice side business during the Iraq war.

The programs that do work (getting people of drugs is a worthy goal) however are not that ones that involve arrests, guns, and billions. It is intervention. It is caring. It is education. It is sissy stuff and unfortunately we'd rather be macho then effective.

In 1994 and 1997, the RAND Corporation releases reports showing that drug treatment and education is 7 times more cost effective than criminal interdiction.

When fighting a "war" blowing up something seems more proactive then giving a kid a tour of a drug ward, and though we know what is cheaper and what works - we'd still rather blow things up.

Believe it or not - the option of doing positive, comparatively cheap, proactive interdiction works with the War on Terror too.

Helping in Indonesia after the Tsunami helped save us unknown millions (billions) in "terror war" costs in the future - in ways we will never really know.

Clinton, who has been deeply involved in the post-tsunami relief effort in southeast Asia with former President George H.W. Bush, cited a poll taken in Indonesia to illustrate how small efforts can have a ripple effect.

Before the tsunami, 36 percent of Indonesians had a positive impression of Americans, compared to 60 percent after the disaster, Clinton said. In contrast, Osama bin Laden's positive impressions among those polled in the heavily Muslim nation dropped from 58 percent to 28 percent.

"He [Osama] didn't do anything to help these people after the tsunami, but people in New Jersey did," Clinton said to a roar from the audience. "And they got it."
- Clinton at Drew

Unfortunately the Association of Thoughtful and Efficient Policy lobby doesn't have much of a budget.

- rob 1:45 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Everyone get on board The Bush Success Train - its pulling out of the station

Poverty Rate Rises to 12.7 Percent

The nation's poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.
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Overall, there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003.
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Regionally, income declined only in the Midwest, down 2.8 percent to $44,657. The South was the poorest region and the Northeast and the West had the highest median incomes.

- rob 1:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Horrible

Katrina May Have Killed 80 in Miss. County

GULFPORT, Miss. - Rescuers in boats and helicopters searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and brought victims, wet and bedraggled, to shelters Tuesday as the extent of the damage across the Gulf Coast became ever clearer. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80.
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More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen were activated to help with the recovery, and the Alabama Guard planned to send two battalions to Mississippi.

Some of these guys just got back from Iraq, but some of their buddies, and definitely some of their equipment are still over there.

Rummy's grand idea of just using the national guard to fill out the Iraqi force has taken away resources we need at home.

Meanwhile you too can help out: American Red Cross Online Donations

- rob 12:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Bush Administration's solumn oath:

We Will Leave No Stone undefiled
We will no tree untimbered
We will leave no part of America unmolsted
We will leave no mistake unmade
We will be indefatigable in our pursuit of our mission!

Destroying the National Parks

Recently, a secret draft revision of the national park system's basic management policy document has been circulating within the Interior Department. It was prepared, without consultation within the National Park Service, by Paul Hoffman, a deputy assistant secretary at Interior who once ran the Chamber of Commerce in Cody, Wyo., was a Congressional aide to Dick Cheney and has no park service experience.

Within national park circles, this rewrite of park rules has been met with profound dismay, for it essentially undermines the protected status of the national parks.
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Mr. Hoffman's rewrite would open up nearly every park in the nation to off-road vehicles, snowmobiles and Jet Skis. According to his revision, the use of such vehicles would become one of the parks' purposes. To accommodate such activities, he redefines impairment to mean an irreversible impact. To prove that an activity is impairing the parks, under Mr. Hoffman's rules, you would have to prove that it is doing so irreversibly - a very high standard of proof. This would have a genuinely erosive effect on the standards used to protect the national parks.

It is genious in its evil. Destroy nature while tooling around in your Humvee which needs massive amounts of fuel. It's a two-fer.

If they put this genius - this wicked brilliance - to play to help America and the world - wow, they would be a gift. Quite frankly now they are a cancer. They are willfully destroying America. (is that harsh?... I haven't had dinner yet... hungry you know).

- rob 10:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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So should I sell my house, move into some cardboard box somewhere and then buy my hourse back this winter when it sells again for half the price?

Krugman: Greenspan and the Bubble

If Mr. Greenspan had said two years ago what he's saying now, people might have borrowed less and bought more wisely. But he didn't, and now it's too late. There are signs that the housing market either has peaked already or soon will. And it will be up to Mr. Greenspan's successor to manage the bubble's aftermath.

How bad will that aftermath be? The U.S. economy is currently suffering from twin imbalances. On one side, domestic spending is swollen by the housing bubble, which has led both to a huge surge in construction and to high consumer spending, as people extract equity from their homes. On the other side, we have a huge trade deficit, which we cover by selling bonds to foreigners. As I like to say, these days Americans make a living by selling each other houses, paid for with money borrowed from China.

One way or another, the economy will eventually eliminate both imbalances. But if the process doesn't go smoothly - if, in particular, the housing bubble bursts before the trade deficit shrinks - we're going to have an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession. In fact, a growing number of economists are using the "R" word for 2006.

- rob 6:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Meanwhile back in Iraq

Sunnis bitter as Iraq parliament accepts constitution's final draft

BAGHDAD, Iraq Â? The Iraqi parliament accepted a final draft of a new constitution yesterday as top leaders from the nation's Sunni Muslim minority warned that the document could tear the country apart along sectarian lines.
...
Bush predicted a rise in attacks by insurgents in advance of the country's Oct. 15 referendum vote on the constitution.

"Terrorists will become more desperate, more despicable and more vicious," he said, while expressing confidence Iraq would continue to move toward democracy.

First the violence was increasing prior to the handover, then prior to the election, then prior to the constitution being accepted, and now again prior to another trip to the ballot box. Each step Americans were promised that the violence woulddiminishh after that step was made, but each time the step was made and the violence continued to increase... now we are learning becomes another step was coming months away. And come Oct. 16th is the violence going to increase in advance of the country's printing of the constitution? In advance of it implementing the constitution? In advance of.... November?

Maybe the violence is increasing because Bush and pals screwed up, and refuse to adapt to a really unpleasant situation.

- rob 6:43 PM - [PermaLink] -

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At last someone gets in trouble for all those ridiculous Halliburton contracts

Ooops... she's the one who blew the whistle on them: Senior Democrat says decision to demote Halliburton worker will chill whisteblowing

The top U.S. Army contracting official who first raised criticism over Halliburton's no-bid contract in Iraq was demoted Sunday for what the army called poor job performance -- the first time her performance was rated low in 20 years.
...
“Secretary Rumsfeld has lowered the axe on someone courageous enough to speak the truth about an abuse of taxpayer dollars," he remarked. "Ms. Greenhouse was simply being honest, which seems to be enough to get you fired in this Administration.
...
The official, Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse, had overseen contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, which has managed Iraq reconstruction work. She was removed Saturday from her elite Senior Executive Service position and reassigned her to a lesser job in the civil works division.

Greenhouse's lawyer, Michael Kohn, told the New York Times he saw "obvious reprisal" for the objections she raised to a series of decisions involving the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown Root, which has netted more than $10 billion for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"She is being demoted because of her strict adherence to procurement requirements and the army's preference to sidestep them when it suits their needs," he said Sunday.

- rob 6:36 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Another Bush success: Report: More journalists killed in Iraq than Vietnam

- rob 6:34 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Did Time intentionally deceive its readers in Plame case? [Media Matters]

Pretty much, yeah.

- rob 6:31 PM - [PermaLink] -

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"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
- James Madison

You said it Jimmy: ACLU reveals FBI labeled peace, affirmative action group 'terrorist'

The file was obtained through an ongoing nationwide ACLU effort seeking information on the FBI's use of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to engage in political surveillance.

"This document confirms our fears that federal and state counterterrorism officers have turned their attention to groups and individuals engaged in peaceful protest activities," said Ben Wizner, an ACLU staff attorney and counsel in a lawsuit seeking the release of additional FBI records. "When the FBI and local law enforcement identify affirmative action advocates as potential terrorists, every American has cause for concern."

- rob 6:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Christian Right has taken self-esteem to far.

Often we marvel at Bush's incredible insensitivity and callousness. His smirk on his face as he talks about "mourn the loss" of America's young in Iraq is sickening. While Clinton outright wallowed in the misery of others ('I feel your pain'.. of course he did because he was biting his lip every time he said it) Bush's distance from his fellow man is even more disturbing (I think he's out golfing today in Arizona... I guess the Mississippi fields were rained out today?).

How could Bush's indifference to his fellow man in practice not be met with a backlash from his religious supporters?

Easy, because that "love your fellow man" crap was wimpy hippy Christianity. Bush exemplifies the "new" Christian.

One common riff used by evangelical speakers involves John 3:16 -- the verse made famous by Bannerman. As a reminder of God's love for each of us, the speaker will quote that verse as a fill-in-the-blank, urging the audience to insert their own name: "For God so loved [your name here] that he gave his only begotten son, that [your name here] shall not perish but have everlasting life."

This illustration turns the verse into something like the parable of the Lost Sheep ("ninety and nine all safe in the fold"), which is a valid point, but not the point that John's Gospel is making.

John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world," or literally, "the cosmos." It's not a good idea to substitute yourself for the entire cosmos. Part of what this passage is saying is that God loves the world, so you should love it too. That message is lost if you make it all about you.

If it's all about you, then it doesn't really matter what else or who else God loves.

That quote is from a post on Slacktivist about the sociopathic qualities of the "heroes: of Left Behind: slacktivist: L.B.: Everybody loves Rayford. But the truth is that this pathology seems to fit Bush (and his family) perfectly.

Dowd: Biking toward Nowhere

How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq?

Wasn't he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm's way?

"I'm determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly.

That wasn't the son, believe it or not. It was the father - 15 years ago. I was in Kennebunkport then to cover the first President Bush's frenetic attempts to relax while reporters were pressing him about how he could be taking a month to play around when he had started sending American troops to the Persian Gulf only three days before.

On Saturday, the current President Bush was pressed about how he could be taking five weeks to ride bikes and nap and fish and clear brush even though his occupation of Iraq had become a fiasco. "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life," W. said, "to keep a balanced life."

Pressed about how he could ride his bike while refusing to see a grieving mom of a dead soldier who's camped outside his ranch, he added: "So I'm mindful of what goes on around me. On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live and will do so."

Ah, the insensitivity of reporters who ask the President Bushes how they can expect to deal with Middle East fighting while they're off fishing.

Barbara (the mom) shares the feeling that reality should not interfere with her day.

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

(from Her Beautiful Mind ).

Yes Bush is a member of the CCC - Cool Callous Christian. But in truth Callous is all he is.

Here's some other posts that might be of interest (that follow the same train of thought):
Bush is not a Christian
When did Evangelical Christians turn to hate?

Also - Slacktivist has been doing an amazing job of reviewing the Christian Right bestseller Left Behind. You can read his reviews right here. I don't think any book outside of Ulysses has been analyzed this thoroughly. But that book is important to this twisted version of evangical Christianity that has taken root, and is worth studying. So far Slacktivist is up to reviewing page 144 (he started the review on October 17, 2003).

- rob 6:09 PM - [PermaLink] -

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